A Perfectly Imperfect Union: Reflecting on America 250 with Emma Ambrose

<p> Hey there. It's Michael. Welcome to Whole Again, the show that's here in support of you creating a meaningful life and the person you're becoming. And I'm excited to share a new series with you that will air this summer as America turns 250 years old, which is still pretty young relative to many other countries across this big blue marble that we all share.</p>
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<p>The series is called A Perfectly Imperfect Union. In 2022, I rode my bike across America from Astoria, Oregon, to the Lincoln Memorial. My wife drove our RV, and she had two co-pilots, Jester and Hope, two springer spaniels And when we did it, America was coming out of the pandemic and we were hurting.</p>
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<p>Hurting from things that had happened prior to the pandemic, of course, going through what we all went through. And at that time, and this is something I still believe today, is that we were entering an inflection point. An inflection point for us to hopefully pause, breathe, and reflect on who we wish to become as individuals, as communities, and as a country.</p>
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<p>As I pedaled across America, I wanted to share America's beauty with others, her natural beauty and the beauty of her people. And I also wanted to share where we were hurting As America turns 250, I believe Kintsugi, which is something we use as a metaphor here at Whole Again, is a perfect metaphor for where we are as a country.</p>
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<p>There's so much beauty to celebrate, and we can also acknowledge that parts of us feel broken or are broken. But we can find a way to come back together, just like Kintsugi teaches us. And when we do, we don't try to erase or cover up where we have scars or blemishes. We highlight them in gold, and we celebrate them as symbols of our strength and resilience.</p>
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<p>Kintsugi is called the golden repair, and in essence, we can see beauty in something that's perfectly imperfect. During this series, I plan to speak to at least two people in each state and the District of Columbia, so 102 conversations with real folk, as I like to say. We're gonna let the celebrities and the big influencers have their day somewhere else, but here I wanna reach out and talk to real people and listen to their reflections as they think about America turning 250 years old.</p>
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<p>And my hope is, is that you'll tune in to at least one, if not all 102, 'cause my theory going into this is that you'll hear different perspectives. Some may be aligned with yours, others may not. But my hope is that you hear the goodness in your fellow citizens and realize, as Maya Angelou shared with us, "We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike."</p>
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<p>We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. I've had the privilege of traveling all over the world and all over this country, and this belief is something that I hold deep inside of me. So yes, I do believe that we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. So if you're ready to get to know one of your fellow neighbors, who is also perfectly imperfect like all of us, take a healthy breath in and a slow releasing breath out and get to know Emma Ambrose.</p>
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<p>Emma, so good to see you. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for joining me here on my series, A Perfectly Imperfect Union. How the heck are you? </p>
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<p>I am doing awesome. I am actually in the Bahamas right now. I am in the middle of moving out of my college house and moving into my first grown-up apartment, and I decided it was the wisest choice to come to the Bahamas.</p>
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<p>It probably wasn't, now that I'm realizing that, and I've been on the phone all morning with the leasing company and charging up- ... an international plan. But you know what? I'm still young, so I'm gonna make those mistakes, and I'm having a lovely time. I'm gonna swim with dolphins after this. </p>
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<p>Well, how cool is that?</p>
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<p>And so yeah, adulting is like, adulting sometimes sucks, but you know what? It's all part of it, so you gotta go through it. And I think you might be the first person I've chatted with in this series that's not calling in from the US. So, uh, you, you, you get to be a, a little bit of the first international guest that I've had.</p>
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<p>I'm honored, and I hope this- Yeah ... isn't on the international plan. Fingers crossed. </p>
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<p>So, well, we, we will soon, we will soon find out. So I know a little bit about you and, like, the wonderful energy that you're putting into the world, but for those that don't know you, can you take a moment to introduce yourself?</p>
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<p>And when you're not hanging with your friends in the Bahamas, where are you living? </p>
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<p>So my name is Emma Ambrose. I am 21 years old, thank gosh. I finally did it. And I was born and raised in Sag Harbor, New York. It was definitely a very strange upbringing. I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with the area of the Hamptons, but I don't think they're familiar with a lot of people that grew up there year-round.</p>
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<p>My grade was 50 kids from kindergarten to 12th grade, and the same exact- Wow ... 50 </p>
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<p>kids. That's crazy. </p>
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<p>Yes. Yes, I was, let's just say, very excited to get out of there. It is lovely to go back in the summer, but I absolutely will not be residing there full-time. It gets a little, little depressing on the off seasons.</p>
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<p>But then I enrolled into the College of Charleston, and I actually just graduated with a major in communications and a minor in psychology, which kind of led into my career, which I started around three years ago. During COVID, I started doing TikTok. That's something I just naturally have always loved to do.</p>
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<p>Ever since I was about five years old, I was doing makeup routines and all of that stuff. So about my sophomore year of college, I was working in a hair salon. I did retail for five years, and I knew it was absolutely not for me. So I was like- ... there's gotta be a... Uh, it wasn't. I was sitting there, I was like, "If I'm in this store for one more second, I'm gonna pull all my hair out."</p>
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<p>"If I have to look at the same T-shirt over and over and over." I was like, "There's gotta be a different way. I'm not doing this for the rest of my life." So I decided to look into it to see if there's a way for me to start making money on TikTok, and that is when I joined the TikTok Shop, actually. And within my first eight months of being on the TikTok Shop, I sold over $700,000 in GMV, which I was </p>
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<p>making- Dang.</p>
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<p>That's awesome. Yes. </p>
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<p>My parents were like, my poor dad, he's a chef up in the Hamptons, and he's there, like, flipping burgers, and he's like- ... "How much money did you just make in your sleep?" He's like, "Are you effing kidding me?" </p>
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<p>Yeah. </p>
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<p>So, I mean, he was very fascinated by the whole thing, but let's just say he was like, "Life's not seeming too fair right now."</p>
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<p>So- That is wild. Yes. That's so cool. </p>
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<p>So it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was about two summers ago now that all of that started hitting, and then I realized there is a lot of money in social media, and actually a full-time career in social media. So I started working with other companies.</p>
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<p>I've invested a lot of time into social media and different departments of it. I've run other people's social medias. I've managed my own. I've worked through brand deals with other people, and I've just kind of been playing around trying to figure out what exactly it is that I love about social media, and I realize that creating my own content is what I truly love the most, and I really focus on lifestyle.</p>
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<p>I focus a lot on mental health and just documenting my whole college journey, which I think was so awesome to be able to look back, and it's like I have videos of everything. Some people might get freaked out about that, but I definitely documented the memories. </p>
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<p>Very cool. And so now, like now, like you spend your time in South Carolina?</p>
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<p>Yes. So now I am staying in Charleston. I'm actually in the middle of getting my real estate license right now in South Carolina. As I love sales and I was, like, doing social media full time, I'm also moving into a new apartment. I was like, "I need to make sure I get out there and socialize." So real estate has always been something that I was in- interested in, so I thought why not add that to my career path?</p>
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<p>And I also, too, am about to launch my own jewelry company. </p>
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<p>Nice. That's awesome. Well, congratulations on, like, all of that. Thank you. Like, way to kick ass. So, so I've been asking people in this series, you know, if they were getting together with friends during the summertime and someone asked them, "Hey, what does America mean to you?"</p>
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<p>Um, how would you respond to that question, Emma? </p>
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<p>I think what America means to me and what I truly value about America so much, and also too, I feel like this is important to throw this in there, my mom moved here from Ireland when she was 21. Okay. So we spent summers going over to Ireland. I've spent a lot of time in Europe.</p>
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<p>But I think something that I really honor about America is just the freedom and the opportunities that there are, and the encouragement from other people around you to do what you love to do. And it's like even my dad, he is a chef, and it's like he, he went to school for business. He had a job on Wall Street and he, um, quit and then became a chef.</p>
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<p>So he has always encouraged me to do what I wanna do, and I think that also too just comes down to my family and my friends. But I think what I value and honor the most about America is just the motivation that a lot of people have to chase their own dreams. And I feel like you aren't gonna find that in a lot of other places in the world, especially how it is in America, and just having other examples to look at and realizing your dreams are possible and it is absolutely a reach.</p>
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<p>Yeah, and it ... Like, and you are, you are leaning into it too. Like, you're like, you know, even at 21 you're doing, you're doing your own hustles, which is great. And it's just the whole concept of reinvention. Like when I hear your dad's story about like his first career and now reinventing his professional life as a chef.</p>
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<p>It's like, that's pretty, that's pretty cool. </p>
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<p>Yes. No, he's definitely an inspiration for me to look up to. And I don't think I realized it as much when I was a younger kid, and then now that I'm in college and everyone's like, "Oh, what do your parents do?" I was like, "Yeah, my dad's a chef. Like, it's pretty cool."</p>
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<p>Like pretty- </p>
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<p>Yeah, that's pretty- ... put out </p>
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<p>there. Except I don't know how to cook now. </p>
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<p>Well, so that, hey, that might be like one of those adulting skills that you'll, you'll learn over time. So, um, but in the meantime, hey, there's DoorDash. You know, you can, um, you- </p>
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<p>Oh, I, I'm aware of DoorDash, </p>
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<p>trust me. Yeah, you can, you can, you- </p>
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<p>We need a </p>
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<p>reminder.</p>
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<p>You won't go, you won't go hungry. You won't go hungry. So is there ... I know there's a lot of talk, you know, in, uh, on social media, but just in media in general about like, you know, sort of the The energy of the country and the, the dividedness or the divisiveness. Are, are there times where you feel, like, really connected with, like, your fellow, you know, your, your fellow neighbor, maybe metaphorically speaking, even if you guys have different points of view?</p>
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<p>I think that is also something that I truly appreciate about America is I don't think you are going to find that here, and I think that is almost a beautiful thing in a sense, and it's like I know it causes a lot of controversy, but I do think it is so amazing how everybody is so different. And if you are able to not see somebody else's point of view, but at least sit there and listen and understand it, I think it's actually very interesting, and it's a great learning lesson to be surrounded by people with different views and different backgrounds and different diversity.</p>
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<p>And it expands your own palette of understanding. </p>
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<p>Yeah. That's cool. So, like, around that, like, one of the big conversations, at least this summer, I think it's amped up this year compared to last year, is AI, right? So we can't, we can't go through a day without touching AI in some form or fashion. What, what's your take on it?</p>
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<p>You know, from a position of like what- there's one camp out there that will be like, "This is gonna be the most amazing thing ever," and then there's another camp that says, "It's gonna destroy humanity." So do you have a, your own personal take on w- where you stand? </p>
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<p>Yes. I was probably one of the first ChatGPT users that there was.</p>
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<p>Okay. All right, cool. </p>
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<p>I was on it very, very early, and I think it is a concept that is very challenging for people to understand, which is completely reasonable. But I do think we all have to understand that it's not going anywhere, and you could sit there... And same goes with social media. There's a lot of people that will look down upon influencers or, or social media culture, but you can sit there and talk negately- negatively about it, but end of the day it is not going anywhere and you are just wasting your energy.</p>
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<p>I think AI is absolutely an amazing tool. I use it every single day. And if you are able to use it to your advantage, I, I truly... I mean, I use it like my personal assistant. I don't know what I would do- Yeah ... without it. It has gotten me to where I am today, and even I was just launching my own jewelry company and I was working with manufacturing companies.</p>
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<p>I had to understand the material and everything. That is something that probably would've taken me multiple months or even years. I was able to bang that out within about two months with the help of AI, where if you can use it to your advantage, I think it is very helpful, and the future will tell where it goes, and that's not something that you or I is gonna know, and it could be south, it could be great.</p>
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<p>We don't know. So it's like while it's here, I think rather than complaining about it or being scared to use it, I think educating yourself on it and learning how you can use AI in your day-to-day life or in your job to better yourself is very important. </p>
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<p>Yeah, so you're leaning into it and you're like, "Hey, listen, I'm gonna...</p>
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<p>While it's here, for as long as it's here, I'm gonna learn it. I'm gonna try to master it." So obviously it's a young technology, and social is a little bit more of a mature Technology. But for both of them, I hear that you're really bullish on both, so you feel like for both social and, of course, AI is a little bit of an easier answer, but there, it hasn't reached its peak.</p>
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<p>There's gonna be... It will change, it will, it will evolve, but it will still grow. </p>
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<p>Yes, it is gonna grow, and it's like that is just the world and the day and age we live in. And I mean, I've had this conversation with multiple people, I, different people. Even there was this one girl in my class towards my last semester of college, and she was saying how she's never used AI before.</p>
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<p>And I didn't wanna say to her that was a stupid statement to make, but- ... I do think it's a little silly, where any job we go into- It's a little </p>
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<p>naive. </p>
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<p>Yes. Yeah. Any job we go into, they're not gonna say, "Oh my gosh, you've never used AI, I'm gonna give you a gold sticker." Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're gonna say, "Okay, go to the next.</p>
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<p>We don't want you." Because it's like a computer realistically can do with what anybody can within seconds, and I think we've all learnt that, and that's something that we have to understand. And even if people are against that, uh, you can't fight it. It's happening right now. So I just think I always have a very positive outlook on everything, and it's like if you look at it negatively, it is, and if you look at it positively and figure out how it can help boost your career or boo- your, boost your day-to-day life, I think it can be a really amazing tool.</p>
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<p>Very cool. So I use the Japanese art form of Kintsugi as a metaphor for this podcast, uh, really for my overall podcast. So we've talked about some of the good things, things that we wanna keep, but there are, you know, from different people's perspectives, things to work on, like things to, using Kintsugi as the example, things to help us heal or connect, grow And so is there, like, one thing you would wanna take on to help us do just that?</p>
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<p>Maybe it's not perfect, but it's a good, meaningful first step. What would that be? </p>
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<p>I think something that I wish everybody could understand a little bit more about, and I might not be answering this question correctly- </p>
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<p>That's </p>
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<p>okay ... </p>
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<p>but it's </p>
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<p>what I'm gonna go for, is I think a lot of people, and especially in America, have a very negative mindset about a lot of things and can fall into the victim role, and that is something that it is a very easy pattern to get into.</p>
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<p>And I think a lot of people, and it would make the world a lot happier of a place, is if everybody just had a little bit more of a positive outlook on everything, a little bit more gratitude towards everyone around them, where they've gone in life, what they have in life. I think a lot of people will sit there and feel sorry for themselves, and I don't think they realize how much it truly holds them back in life and holds them back from not just growing as themself, but building other connections and building the life that they want.</p>
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<p>When you focus on the negative, you're gonna attract negative, and it's like, it's very simple when it comes down to that. </p>
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<p>I, I really do appreciate that answer. What you're throwing down is that it's more of an abundant attitude and mindset versus a scarcity mindset, and you throw in the gratitude. I have a acronym called GRACE that I developed when I was in the hospital recovering from my big accident, and the G in GRACE stands for gratitude.</p>
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<p>So I think it's, gratitude's like one of those wonderful practices that I, I believe should be done every day to help us see what we still have and can do because the world's sort of framed in a way of all the things that we don't have and can't do anymore. So I love the fact that you've, like, interjected the whole, like, role of gratitude.</p>
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<p>I think it's awesome. So we're gonna round out on this. So I've been asking the person before you if they have a question for you, and then you get to ask a question of the next person I talk to in this series. So the question that I got from the last guest is, is there a place in the States that makes you feel alive?</p>
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<p>Like, lights you up. It's your, call it your happy place. What is that place for you? </p>
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<p>It would 110% be Charleston, South Carolina. That is where I went to college, and that is where I'm living right now. I am literally in the Bahamas right now and thinking about Charleston, and I know once I land there, I'm gonna just have that light kind of in my heart, and it's like that is the one place, once I get back, I absolutely feel at home.</p>
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<p>I love the people there. There's not one complaint I have about the city. It is definitely my happy place. </p>
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<p>That is so cool. That's a- a sort of a rare, like, little bit of a shift for you. Like, going from growing up on Long Island to getting down to the heart of the South in South Carolina. So w- did you have South Carolina pegged when you wanted to go to college, or did, did someone mention it to you?</p>
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<p>Or like, how did you end up down there? </p>
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<p>So I actually had one of my good friends went to the College of Charleston. I knew I wanted to go down- Oh, okay ... to the South, because unfortunately I do have rheumatoid arthritis at my young age. Oh, no. </p>
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<p>Okay </p>
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<p>So I was over the cold weather. I was over the cold. </p>
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<p>Yeah </p>
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<p>I wanted the heat.</p>
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<p>So I went down and I toured. Me and my mom flew into Charlotte, and I think we toured about 14 different colleges, and I absolutely did not like any of them. We were going, and I was like, "College is supposed to be fun, and I'm not feeling." I'm also s- somebody where it's like I absolutely trust my intuition and my gut feeling where it's like- Sure, yeah</p>
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<p>the right college will speak to me in that sense where it's like once I'm there- Yeah ... I'll know that my next chapter is supposed to be there. And Charleston was the last on our list, and I think the second we drove over that bridge, I was like, "This is it." And that was the best- Yeah ... decision I could have made.</p>
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<p>I am so grateful for my college experience, and I'm also grateful to experience life post-grad there. </p>
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<p>That's very cool. Charleston's like an awesome city. There's, like, such great historic value to it. It's like, it's a really, it's a, yeah, it's... I, I would say having traveled throughout the States, Charleston is one of those charming cities that many people don't know about, uh, but probably should.</p>
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<p>So, um- Yeah ... and, you know, that's really- It's rapidly growing. Absolutely. So c- what question do you have for the next person I chat with on this series? </p>
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<p>So the next question I have, this also too kinda ties a little bit into my jewelry company that we'll be launching. It is called Popped by Ambrose, and this kinda relates to the concept of my jewelry company and why I exactly started it.</p>
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<p>But my jewelry is, they are little baby champagne tops, and the top of a champagne bottle, where basically it represents a moment in your life when there was pressure and you wanted to change, so basically you popped- Oh ... and you wanted to rewire, which- Cool ... the champagne top is rewired into a ring. So my question, and this is actually something I am hopefully going to be launching my own podcast down the line- Nice</p>
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<p>but this is a question I will be asking people on my podcast, is what is a moment in your life that you wanted to change something, and not for anybody else, but for yourself? </p>
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<p>Nice. I love it. That's a great question. A good foundation for your podcast going forward. Yeah, that's really cool. Emma, thank you so much for joining me on this series and putting a, like a really impressive ripple effect into the world as, like, a recent college graduate.</p>
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<p>It's, like, pretty, pretty awesome. And I hope you have a kickass time in The Bahamas. I hope it's filled with whatever you wanna fill it with, and hopefully it's a good weekend. So, uh- Thank you so much ... yeah, thanks for being here and, uh, hopefully we'll connect again here in the near future. </p>
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<p>Yes. Thank you for having me.</p>
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<p>I was happy to be here.</p>
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<p>I loved Emma's energy. She happens to be the first one to call in from outside the US in our series, even though she's representing the state of South Carolina, and I love her entrepreneurial energy. She's creating something, which is great. It's awesome. And I also found her question to be interesting.</p>
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<p>How would you respond to it? Is there a moment in your life that you wanted to change simply for yourself and really not anyone else? Let me know in the comment section. And as always, thank you for being here. Thank you for listening, and I hope you'll check out the next episode of Whole Again and continue to tune in to this series, A Perfectly Imperfect Union.</p>
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<p>But until then, let's remember to celebrate our scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience, and don't forget to have fun storming the castle.</p>
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<p>And if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, michaelobrienshift.com, and sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect. And join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here at Whole Again, and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient, and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.</p>
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<p>Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this, and we've got you.</p>